so last night i was practicing launching from a dead stop (i was on a totally empty road that no one ever takes right near my work its a road that fully hasnt been custructed so theres a barrier at one end) i had a friend with me in the passanger seat that was giveing me some tips. well the first pass was fantastic no problems there. so we stop turn off the car wait a couple of mins so the car can cool down and ice the supercharger. well then we start it back up. this time i spun my wheels all the way in first gear through the whole rpm range well i hit the clutch and dropped it into second and nothing it was still reving like it was in first so i take my foot of the gas and second still didnt catch i had to go into third gear for me to get going forward???? has anyone had this problem were second doesnt catch? after that the car smelt like burnt clutch for pertty much the rest of the night but the car drove just fine if anything the clutch felt like it was engaging better then before?? i think i am also getting that dreaded supercharger noise......

 

bye bye clutch

 

i did that at the track against an srt-4. i thought i took the clutch out for a minute. it seemed to run fine after that. i didnt look into it, thought it was just my crappy shifting

 

i did a good shift i had the clutch fully depressed it just seemed like it didnt catch on the way into second ive driven the car around since then and the car actually acts a bit better then normal. havent noticed any clutch smell this morning and the car started up fine takeing it in tomorrow for service on the shifter knob anyways and getting them to check the supercharger out at the same time.

 

I think it is just the damn transmissions in these cars. They are the same basic design from ~1995. I had problems with second in my 1996 Geo Metro, actually 2nd went out, my 2003 Cavalier, difficult to go to second when driving hard, and the same with my 2006 Cobalt. It actually did it this morning coming to work. It really pisses me off that I have to deal with the same problems in this cars that my Cavalier had. Stumbling idle, iffy 2nd gear. There were fixes on the Cavalier and they didn't get put into the new cars from production.

 

I think ur car went into Limp Mode.

 

2nd has given me problems.. nothin like that though..

 

if you hit 2nd while spinning 1st gear hard you are goin into the next gear at too low a speed... if you gain traction our clutch can't make up for the speed/rpm difference and you get the horrid clutch slip (my car had enough power to just spinn 2nd no matter what lol)/// but I would take it easy for a while on the car til it "re breaks" itself in

 

totally had the same problem during this summer at the track. Read the sticky on how to make your clutch stop slipping, and try not to spin the tires so bad in first gear. so far so good since driver mod. O doyel rules!

 

basically youre burning your clutch. next time it happens stop and let it cool down. But try not to hold the clutch down when your taking off.

 

What happened is that while shifting from 1st to 2nd u hit ur rev limiter...yes, i know what ur thinking...no i didn't bc i shifted b4 rev limit...well yes u did shift before rev limit but didnt take ur foot enough off the gas and continued to rev in between gears which hit rev limit...to make a long story short.....i used to do this all the time, not at the track but when street racing...when u hit the rev limiter and go into it, it'll temporarily cut fuel it happens all at once but it seems like an eternity...let me guess u went into second and the tires were still spinning and roasting but u were going really no where and it felt like u were stuck...well to fix the problem u have to shift a lil earlier, or do what i did and get a stage 2 which hopefully you'll shift a lil earlier instead of trying to shift right at 7k and then u wont have the problem.....oh yeah, and to prevent it if u do shift just before rev limit let off the gas moreas ur easing off the clutch to get the tires to catch traction while lowering ur rev slightly and see if that works for ya.....nothing is worse than doing this against some car u know u had beat...so practice makes perfect, lol.....p.s. if this does happen to you u need to completely let off the throttle, the only way the fuel cuts back in is to drop to idle rpm and then u will regain control...........

 

once again....i feel like a broken record.

if you spin first like that, your speedo says like 35mph....but your only doing like 15-20
so your dropping the clutch at a nice healthy 4-6k RPM, in second gear, when the car is NOT READY for second gear.


imagine rolling slowly in first at about 3krpm.....then quickly shift to second, redline it, and drop your clutch.

thats exactly what your doing.

and what probably 90% of the people crying clutch woes are complaining about.


imagine trying to launch your car in 3rd, and what that would do to your clutch.
cuz thats what happens when you shift to second when you dont have traction at the top of first.

 

good point. people think that the clutch is at fault, when most of the complaints are linked to driver error. Sure after many times of burning the clutch in second, it will eventually fail all together. If you change your shifting, you may be able to save your clutch. But chances are if you have done this to many times, your clutch may be smoked.

 

im getting so used to posting about this and trying to explain to people the whole idea of relative groundspeed vs speed on your dash....

Im honestly going to go out with a video camera and sacrifice a small clutch burning to show people exactly what the problem is.

well....as soon as the snow gets off the road.

 

man, i dont know about tearing up you clutch just to prove a point. But that might be what it takes to show people that shifting incorrectly can seriously burn your clutch. thats one bad smell that instantly makes me cringe.

 

meh it will only take a second or 2 of clutch slip to show what i mean.

seriously people just do something for me, get out on the road in first and feather your foot really slowly up the RPM range so you have NO wheelspin.

just cruise it all the way up to redline, then powershift to second.
you wont believe the difference. it will sit your ass back in the seat or break the tires loose. but (unless youve already fucked your clutch) you wont smell burning clutch.
I promise you.